Internal-combustion engine.



C. C. JONES.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION mgn MN. 6. 1912.

1,176,905. 7 Patented Man28, 1916.

fill! n5 COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH c0.. WASHINGTON, D. c.

cnnsrnn cnaniinsaonns, on NEW ALBANY, INDIANA.

IN'rnRNa -co BUsTIo ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented ll/Iar. 28, 1916.

i I i iiApplicationfiledJ'anuary 6,1912.. Seria1 No.669,891.

aZZrw/Lbmjtmay concern; 7. I j 1 ;'I Be.-.it known thatl, CHESTER, CHARLES JONES," a citizen of the Unit'ed'States, and a a resident of New Albany, county of, Floyd, andState of Indiana, have inventedicertain new and useful Improvements in Internal- Combustion Engines, ofvvhich the following is a specification. j a V My invention relates to improvements in internal combustion engines and hasparticularreference tovalvesand valve govern ing mechanism ofinternal combustion engines of the. four-cycle type. a

Generally, the objects of my invention are to simplify the construction of internal c'ombustion engines, and especially of engines of the; four-cycle type; to reduce their cost; to increase their efliciency; and toireducethe noise 'and vibration incident toJtheir operation. 4

A further object of my invention is to dispense with the noisy puppet valves .now in common useiand which soon wear out, and to substitute in placethereof a valve mechanism Whicl1;shall consist of a minimiim number of large ,substantial parts, that will wear indefinitely without renewal, that cannot easily'be broken, and which will not only offer little, resistance to the running of the engine, but will positively. assist in its own operationf. a y V a A further; object of my invention is to provide a valve mechanism of the character described in which but one valve member shall'ibenecessary .for regulating similar ports of all the cylinders of the engine re-' gardless of the number of cylinders employed; j

'A' further object of my invention is to provide a multiple cylinder engine with a valve common to all of the cylinders which shall serve not only to control the inlet and the exhaust of the gases to and fromthe cylinders, but shall also serve as an inlet and an exhaust manifold. v

A further object of myvinvention is to i provide a .valve of the character outlined it which shall combine the functions of a controllingaralve and an inlet and an exhaust manifoldtogether with the function of an exhaust muffler. V a

l A further object of my invention is, to provide in a multiple cylinder engine, a

' .valveffcongnion to all .the cylinders which shall make useof the, expansive force of the waste gasesgfor its operation. a My invention resldes 1n an lnternal com-' bustion engine of the four-cycle type which,

in its simplest form has a cylinder, a piston operative therein, said cylinder having a single port which serves both as an admission and as an exhaust port, a single valve chamber into which the said port opens, a

single hollow cylindrical valve filling said chamber and serving to control the flow of the gases both into and out of the cylinder and a timing device Which connects the valve with the crank shaft. J 7

My invention further consists in an internal combustion engine provided with a main valve in theform of a hollow cylinder and having separate passages therein for the admission and exhaust of the gas'esand adapted to be constantly rotated in one directionto control the inletv and the exhaust of gases to and from the cylinder. p My invention further consists in a multiple cylinder engine having the above mentioned characteristics, a hollow cylindrical valve, common to all the cylinders and adapted to controlthe inlet and exhaust of the gases toand from all the cylinders, said valvehaving two independent passages extending substantially throughout the length of the valve, one of'saidpassages connecting at one end of the valve with a supply of fuel gas and the other of said passages connecting atthe other end of the valvewith an exhaust pipe, said valve being adapted to rotate upon its axis and having pforts which periodicallyregister with openings in the cylinders for the inlet and exhaust of the gases, and in which the independent passages of the valve are formed by a spiral substantially medial longitudinal partition so formed that the,,passage of the gases through the valve, both inlet and exhaust, serve to rotate the valve upon its axis.

My invention alsoconsists in'amultiple cylinder engine having a single valve chain ber common to all of said cylinders, a single hollow cylindrical valve filling said chamber and, adapted to rotate upon its axis therein, the valve being divided longitudinally into an inlet and, an exhaust passage connecting at opposite ends of the valve to a fuel supply and an, exhaust passage re spjectively there being both an inlet, port and an exhaust port in said valve for each of said cylinders to connect each of them with each of the passages in due order, said valve being adapted when rotated upon its axis in timed relation to the rotation of the engine shaft to control the inlet and exhaust j of gases to and from the varlous cylinders in proper sequence,- and said partition being spiral or twisted to cause the rotation of the valve when the inlet or the exhaust gases flow through said passages in their move ment into or out of the cylinders.

My invention consists further in providing a. spiral rotary valve mechanism in which the expansive energy of the gases is takenup in rotating the valve thereby muffling the exhaust, and in which the exhaust passageway being spiral or twisted there is imparted a rotary motion to thegases thus holding them against sudden release into the outside atmosphere and then by permitting them to escape gradually the noise ordinarily incident to the discharge of the ex-' haust gases being practically overcome.

In the ordinary four-cycle engine certain valves are required to control the inlet of fuel and certain others to control the exhaust of the burnt gases. .Hitherto it has been customary to provide separate valves for the inlet and outlet of each cylinder. These valves ordinarilyhavebeen of the puppet or mushroom type and are opened and closed by mechanism actuated by the crank shaft, a spring serving to insure prompt restoration. One vof the most troublesome features of engines of this class has been the valve mechanism for regulating the inlet of the fuel into the combustion chamber and the exhaust of the products of combustion. The mechanism on account of its complexity and multiplicity of parts frequently gets out of working order, is noisy in its operation, interferes with the uniform running of the engine and is expensive to maintain. Hence the valve mechanism has been the object of many efforts for simplification and improvement. It is obvious that when the piston goes down tending to create a vacuum in the cylinder that free air will be drawn in more or less around the stem of the inlet valve and especially when it has become worn and does not properly fit its guide. This extra amount of air is frequently sufiicient to interfere with the proper explosion of the fuel charge and the engine misses fire. Many efforts have been made to overcome these defeets, but practical operating conditions have presented so many diiiiculties that hitherto only very limited success has been attained in this direction. By my invention in place of the multiplicity of separate valves, I substitute a single unitary and integral valve adapted to control the admission and exhaust of all the cylinders of an engine regardless of the number of cylin:

that the construction of an engine is greatly simplified, inasmuch as the two manifolds and the multiplicity of valves hitherto used are replaced bya simple double conduit demanifold with a single unitary valvefor controlling the admission and exhaust of the engine regardless of the number of cylinders. .7

The invention will be readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment thereof and forming part of the specification.

Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinalaxial' section of the upper part of theengine showing therotary manifold-valve member in side elevation; Fig.2 is a longitudinal central or axial section of the rotary valve showing thespiral partition complete fin side elevation; and Figs. 3, 4:, 5 and 6 are transverse sections on the lines 4 r, 5 5 (S -6 and 7 -.7*, respectively, of Fig.1 and show the relative positionsof the various inlet and outlet openings or ports in the valve for the several cylinders.

V I have chosen to illustrate my invention as embodied in a water-cooled four cylinder engine of the vertical type particularly adapted for use in automobiles, and

vice which combines the intake and exhaust it should be at once understood that while certain features of my invention are par-.

ticularly applicable for use in multiple cylinder engines, certain other features may be employed in internal combustion engines having but one cylinder, and it should be understood that my invention is not limited to the specific form of engine illustrated.

The cylinders A of theengine, four in number, are arranged side by side in a single der casting B is provided with a longitudinal cylindrical valve chamber J which extends the full length of the casting and is connected to each cylinder through a single port'or passage K. The valve chamber is preferably straight; that is, it is preferably" of uniform diameter throughout its length. At one end itopens into or connects with an exhaust pipe J and at the other end "it opens into' an enlarged chamber J 2 Which incloses the drivingmechanism for the valve. The ports K are arrangedin the upper end of the cylinders' and open into compression or explosion spaces L provided inthe upper end of each cylinder. These ports K are somewhat longer longitudinally of the casting than they are wide and as they extend vertically, practically only through one thickness 'of metal, they are quite short. The valve chamber J is completely surrounded by the water space or jacket C except where it is joined to the cylinders and hence theinclosing wall is maintained. at a comparatively low temperature at all times. A The valve chamber J contains the valve M. This valve is cylindrical in form and substantially as long as the valve chamber. The valve fits the chamber very closely, their contacting surfaces being finely finished by grinding, and the valve in'practice is only a few thousandths of an inchsmallerin diameter than the valve chamber J. One

feature to be noted is that the valve and valve chamber correspond with each other in size and shape. They are both circular in cross section, so that the valve can be revolved in the chamber as in a bearing and in the embodiment of myinvention illustrated, I have shown both these parts as being of uniform diameter throughout'their length, though it is obvious that they might both be tapered orboth be of difierent diameters at different parts without departing from the spirit of my invention, the important feature being that they closely fit each other at all points. One end of the valve extends into and through the chamber J and Imount upon this end of the valve a chain sprocket M by means of which-I rotate the valve through the medium of a sprocket chain M trained around asprocket wheel carried by the engine shaft. The two sprockets are proportioned to rotate the valve at a proper speed relative to the speed of the shaft.- In the engine illustrated the valve is rotated at half the speed of the engine shaft. The chain M is inclosed in the casing N which is secured at its upper end to the cylinder casting end to the base castingD. This casing not only incloses the chain but forms an oil duct to convey the surplus lubricating oil from the valve to the base of the engine. The outer end M of the valve is supported in a bearing I 1 formed in the casing N and this end of the valve communicates freely with a fuel supply pipe S. I i

The valve M is in a practical sense a straight pipe long enough to span completely'across the top of the engine and pro- B and at its lowerv ject through the casing N.- This valve is hollow and receives the fuel gas from the supplypipe S through its end M and discharges the gases from the cylinders through the opposite end M into the exhaust pipe J I provide the interior of the valve with a longitudinal partition ll This partition is peculiar in form and serves several purposes. It divides the interior of the valve into an inlet manifold M and an outlet manifold M. This partition fits tightly within the valve and completely shuts off the inlet side or manifold from the exhaust side of the manifold. While the partition may be secured in various ways to completely separate the inlet from the exhaust side, I have shown it as bein formed integrally with the shell of the valve preferably being cast or formed in position. The partition is substantially medial or central in the valve and its ends are curved or formed to join the inner surface of the valve and close the ends of the passages. The partition extends beyond the last cylinder sufficiently to connect the inlet passage with this cylinder and the inlet passage is closed just beyond this last cylinder. I The inlet passage is therefore open at the forward end and closed at the rear end of the valve. The exhaust passage extends from the rear end of the valve to the forward end a sufhcient distance so that the exhaust passage may open into or connect with the first cylinder and the'partition is joined to the inner surface of the valve at this point so that the exhaust passage is closed at the forward end and open at the rear end of the valve. lVhile the partition might be formed to ex tend straight across the interior of the valve from side to'side I prefer to curve it slightly 105 transversely of the valve preferably as illustrated, forming it so that its concave surface is turned toward the exhaust passage M This form of partition serves to allow or compensate for its expansion, which is 11 due to the high temperature of the exhaust gases, and the valve isthus preserved against excessive strains and distortion. The valve is provided with an exhaust port J 3 for each cylinder'and an inlet port S for each cyl- 1 inder. These ports J and S for each cyl inder are circumferentially in line and are adapted to register with the port K of their respective cylinders. Theexhaust port J for each cylinder enters the exhaust pas- 1 sage l\ 7 of thevalve and the inlet port S for each cylinder enters the inlet passage M" of the valve. The valve ports for the variouscylinders are arranged in such relative positions in the valve that they register 125 with the ports L in proper sequence to supply gas to and exhaust waste gases from the cylinders in the sequence for which the engine is designed.

Each. cylinder in a four-cycle engine has 130 one working stroke for each two revolutions of thecrank shaft and these explosionsare arranged to occur one at each successive half revolution of the shaft. In the engine illustrated, the sequence of explosions,counting from the left, are the first cylinder then the third cylinder followed by the fourth cylinder and this followed by the second cylinder, and I have indicated the various cylinders by C C C and C. This sequence of explosion necessitates the relative spacing or arrangement of the ports J3 and S for the various cylinders, as shown in Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6, and the ports as thus arranged are properly connected to and with the inlet and exhaust passages of the valve by twisting or spiraling the partition M as clearly illustrated in Fig. 2. This partition is thus twisted or spiraled for the purpose of connecting the various ports with their proper passages in the valve and effects another very important service. At the time when the exhaust port of any cylinder opens, the waste gas in the cylinder is under considerable pressure and as it escapes into and through the valve its force is expended upon the spiral partition and serves to aid in the rotation of the valve. This turning of the valve by the exhaust gases is not allowed to throw the valve out of time for the reason that the valve is timed by its connection to the engine shaft through the medium of the chain M but to the extent that the exhaust gases aid in the rotation of the valve they serve to economize and conserve the power of the engine as developed in the cylinders. The fact that the waste gases are caused to do. work in their escape from the engine necessarily reduces the pressure of these exhaust gases as they escape from the outer end ofthe valve into the exhaust pipe J their pressure is in a practical sense elimi- V nated and they consequently are exhausted without appreciable noise, the valve thus serving as an eflicient muffler. Furthermore the spiral motion which is-set up in the escaping gases, both by the rotation of the valve and by the spiral passage through which they flow also tends to destroy their explosive effect as they escape from the end of the valve and this also serves to reduce the noise of the gases as they leave the engine. As the volume of the fuel gases which enters the cylinders is somewhat less than the volume of the waste gases, I have so positioned the spiral partition M that the admission duct M of the valve is slightly smaller than the exhaust duct M.

Another obvious effect of the spiral partition is that when the engine isv running at high speed the indraft of the fuel gas through the inlet side of the valve also tends to aid in the rotation of the valve and thus reduce the power necessary'for rotating the Valve. When the engine is running at low feet scavenging and the automatic delivery of the fresh gas to the cylinders through the action of the spiral partition uponthe gases, I am enabled to run the engine successfully at a very low speed, and to obtain avery high efficiencyin the use of the fuel. A very important advantage in my novel construction is that the valve is constantly rotated at a relatively low speed and hence requires but little power and there are no reciproeating parts connected with'the' valve or the valve driving mechanism to causeor pro-.

duce objectionable noises. Therefore, the valve and its mechanism are silent in their operation.

In order to lubricate the valve I supply oil to the valve chamber through an 'oil connection Mwhich may enter the chamber at any point,.preferably about the middle of the length of thechamber and the oil works along through the chamber from this point. I provide an oil groove M in the outer surface of the valve arranged substantially midway between each of the cylinders and another arranged beyond each outer cylinder. These oil grooves catch and retain the lubricating oiland serve'in a sensejas fluid packingsbetween the valve and the inner surface of thevalve chamber to Jpre-Y of the hub of the sprocket wheel M and maintain the sprocket wheel. in proper relative position. The sprocket wheel "as shown in Fig. 2 is secured"to the valve 'bymeans of set screws U and the valve is held'longiner ends of these glands serve as shoulders or collars which contact with the outeriends.

tudinally in its position by means of this sprocket wheel. Any oil which may work through the forward end of the valve chamber enters the chamber J and follows the casing N down to the base of the engine. Each cylinder is provided with an opening V for the reception of a suitable sparking device preferably an electric spark plug V As so far describedmy valve mechanism" 7 or the valve itself comprises but a single rotating member which, supplies gas to and exhausts the waste gas from the various cyl inders and but one of these valves is used,

units carried by the exhaust gases,

no matter how many cylinders the engine may contain, and the valve not only serves as a means for controlling the inlet and exhaust of the gases to and from the cylinder, 7

but also serves or has the function of a combined inlet and exhaust manifold, and as hereinbefore described it also mufiles or destroys the sound or noise of the escaping exhaust gases.

One important feature inherent in my novel valve resides in the fact that the in coming fresh cool gases are only separated from the outgoing hot exhaust gases by the relatively thin partition wall M and consequently the fresh gases not only absorb, and conserve a large proportion of the heat but they also serve to cool the partition and thereby aid in preventing the valve from becoming too highly heated. 7

It will now be understood that my invention as developed for a multiple cylinder engine is simplicity itself, using as it does but one substantial member to control both the admission and the exhaust of all the cylinders and which single substantial member also serves at the same time as both an exhaust and a fuel supply manifold.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In a multiple cylinder four-cycle type internal combustion engine, a plurality of parallel cylinders arranged side by side and each thereof having a port at its upper end, a cylindrical valve chamber extending over all of said cylinders and having communication with each of said ports, a cylindrical valve in said chamber, means for constantly rotating said valve in. one direction, a spirally arranged partition extending longitudinally through said valve and dividing the interior thereof into an inlet passage having free communication with one end of the valve and an exhaust passage having" free communication with the opposite end of the valve whereby the fuel gas and exhaust gas both flow through the valve in the same direction, ports in the shell of the valve adapted to connect each of said passages with the ports of the various cylinders in proper sequence, said spiral partition being arranged to gradually reduce the cross sec- Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the tion of the inlet passage and to increase the cross section of the exhaust passage in the direction of the flowing gases.

2. In a multiple cylinder four-cycle type internal combustion engine, a plurality of parallel cylinders arranged side by side and each thereof having a port at its upper end, a cylindrical valve chamber extending over all of said cylinders and having communication with each of said ports, a cylindrical valve in said chamber, means for constantly rotating said valve in one direction, said valve having its interior divided into longitudinally overlapping inlet and exhaust passages which open at opposite ends of the valve whereby the inlet and exhaust gases flow in the same direction through the valve, the inlet passage gradually reducing incross section in the direction of the flow of gases therethrough and the exhaust passage gradually increasing in cross section in the direction of the flow of gases therethrough.

3. In an internal combustion engine of the four-cycle type a plurality of parallel cylinders arranged in a row and each thereof having a port at its upper end, a cylindrical valve chamber arranged parallel with said row of cylinders and in communication with each of said ports, a cylindrical valve substantially filling said valve chamber and provided with a partition extending longitudinally therethrough and dividing the interior thereof into an inlet passage having free communication at one end of the valve and an exhaust having free communication with the other end of the valve whereby the inlet and exhaust gases flow through said passage in the same direction, said partition being in spiral form and the pitch of the spiral increasing from the inlet toward the exhaust end of the valve, ports in the walls of said valve entering both the inlet and exhaust passages and adapted to register with the cylinder ports, and means for constantly rotating the valve in one direction.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, this 2nd day of January, 1912, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHESTER CHARLES JONES.

Witnesses:

W. L. MARSH, K. NIooLL.

Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

